DUTCH AIR-LINER BURNED

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21354, 22 December 1934, Page 15

DUTCH AIR-LINER BURNED

I all aboard dead CR\SH NLAK RLIBAH i S \vi;li,S I S /IK i" ri( i; MU -TIINt'S FIND WKKCK r <"-~ t ' ft Et.etlftic <r " IELViIAiH-'-'-TTRIC/HI.) Received Dcar-ilr r 22, 1.15 a.m.) CAlK<>. December 21. | niis.Min; Douglas aeroI of Royal Dutch Air Lines was found by Royal Air Force , aeroplanes 10 miles south ol' { Rutbah Wells. It had crashed I and was burned. The crew of , 1 f eur and the three passengers ■ were all killed. I jhe machine, which was | second in the Melbourne air I nce vras found near the spot I from which she asked by wireJess for her position yesterday, i After nothing was heard from her. The machine was :2.10 mites irom Bagdad. from which town Dutch Air Line and IraS periai Airway l eprcsen'.ativcs i are now flyini;. i | *p. c crc'.v ni t!) [ J min ing aeroplane • n i k ted of C"inir■■;indcr Heekman, I ;<s,i Stecnbergen (second oflicer), 11. •' TaPicv/vn < mechanic >. and Zadeli -,ff <\virei<>- ; •■■f':cer). 5 jre three pai-sengers. MM. D. f Scrre'.tv (a director of a Batavia agency) D. Kort. and Proies- * r 'iViiller (of Batavia University) ! vcre all Dutc Tier. B' a tragic coincidence the crash - nutt have nccurred while K. D. Paimentier and J. J. Moll (who ■Vv* the machine in the air race) 1 "-ere at a dinner in London in i nuur of the Melbourne flight. < The Air Force aeroplanes which [potted the wreck were unable to ' because the ground was so bad. ? The position ol the wreckage rakes it clear that it must have I curst into flame.: the moment it I struck the ground. One of the theories is that the machine was struck by lightning before it sent out the last wireless message. The I sudden thunderstorms in this area | send up whirling columns of dust i triii sometimes form a sandspout. | The scene of the tragedy is within J reach of the British armoured car i nation at Rutbah, but motor traffic b impossible because of the torrential rains. An Amsterdam message says

that the news of tiie disaster caused :i consternation all over Holland. It r.25 shaken the national pride after ±e Melbourne triumph. Relief is ornressed that Parmentier and Moll ' ' a not aboard. The Douglas, a twin-engined, iowiiged monoplane, is o-ic oi the lniest I'icansercial aeroplanes in the world. machine v.-as bought from iaeni-a bv Hoyal Dutch Air Lines. A! the timf 1 the crash tho pilots l;re litt<. j niptin 'k to fly from Amsteiaa lo Batavia and back with Christmas mails in live davs. The machine 'iss a cruising speed ol nearly 200 ties hour. J